America: The Clash of Politics and a National Identity

The recent election this November has swept the republicans back into power in the House of Representatives. I'm not sure that they've been given free rein by the public. They're being sent out on a test drive. If Americans like the ride, and the quality of work they'll more than likely hold legislative power in 2012. We need to set politics aside and avoid the endless arguments that divide republicans from democrats and liberals from conservatives and look at the real underlying issues. I believe that for many of us, President Obama's policies and the heavy handed legislative maneuvers of Nancy Pelosi's Congress have left us wondering just what our national identity has historically been and what we want it to become. Ageless questions regarding our republic have simmered to the surface. Thoughts such as: How do we view our nation's past? How do we view the United States in its relation to the world? Do we want equality of condition or equality of opportunity? Do we want an expansive or a limited federal government? Do individuals look at outside influences rather than internally when analyzing their own success or lack thereof?

Many of us are concerned about our national debt. Some of us waste time blaming this or that party or a specific politician. Both parties have operated our government via deficit spending. If a family or a business is to reap the benefits of success, they must operate in the black. Why shouldn't our government be held to the same standard? Many of us have suckled for too long at the government tit of entitlement. Far too many of us also believe that it is the government's role to provide us with an equality of existence rather than an equality of opportunity. Life is tough and there are no guarantees. Government's only responsibility is to do its very best to level the playing field and then stand back and allow personal endeavor and endless fortitude on an individual level to play out. We are not all equal in drive or temperament so, how can government possibly make us equal? All one needs to do is look at a current world map and juxtapose it with a map from the 1980s. The last century's great experiment in socialism was an abysmal failure. The Soviet Union and the socialistic governments in the Warsaw Pact are now defunct. These governments operated in the red and tried to mandate social equality which resulted in the stifling of personal endeavor and socio-political doldrums.

Each of us is the captain of our own ship and therefore responsible for steering it into safe or into dangerous waters. Therein lies the question; where do we draw the line separating personal responsibility from government subsistence? Unfortunately, many families have over extended their fiduciary resources and have fallen into bankruptcy. Many of these very same families are looking to place the blame for their lot on others. No politician or a political party has held a gun to any citizen's head and mandated that they go into debt. It is the responsibility of each of us to live within our means. No one doubts that there are families in need who are suffering from consequences outside of their control and that they deserve a helping hand to bail the water out of their boat but; there are also many amongst us who have spent like drunken sailors with money that they didn't have and are now looking for free handouts. There is a real life lesson to be learned in our current recession. Each of us rises or falls by our own due diligence. We cannot nor should we expect the government to rescue us from our own bad decisions. Doing so will ensure that you never learn from your mistakes. Life decisions are full of unforeseen consequences and how we deal with these bumps in the road establishes our identity. Individualism is a distinctive American trait and with it comes responsibility. Our Bill of Rights protects the rights of the individual but it is the responsibility of the individual to reach for the heights that only he or she can identify. All of us need to do a whole lot less finger pointing and spend more time conducting a self analysis of our situation. Doing so will be constructive on both an individual and a national level.

De Oppresso Liber